Adjacent channel optimized receiver

ABSTRACT

The present invention offers significant improvements in the performance of a radio receiver operating in an environment with high desired band interference. The present invention comprises a high selectivity RF circuit that is located between the antenna and the radio receiver, and utilizes superheterodyne technology to filter adjacent channel interference in the desired band frequency spectrum. This type of interference is problematic for IEEE 802.11 radio receivers that are implemented with the popular direct conversion radio receiver architectures. The present invention may be utilized in many types of radio receivers.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/618,690, entitled Adjacent Channel Optimized Receiver, filed on Nov.13, 2009 by the same inventors and is fully incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention generally relates to wireless communications, and morespecifically, microwave radio equipment, such as IEEE 802.11 radios.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates in frequency spectrum 100 a typical environment for aWLAN environment with ACI. As shown, the frequency spectrum 101 of theinformation signal has sufficient signal power to achieve an appropriatesignal to noise ratio (SNR) compared with the interference 102 that islocated in the desired band. The performance of a radio is alsodetermined by the signal-to-interference ratio (S/I or SIR) 105, whichis defined as the ratio of the data signal to the interference signal.SIR 105 is often more critical to radio performance than thesignal-to-noise (SNR) ratio 104. The design of wireless systems,including the wireless system's RF sub-system and digital filtering, maygreatly affect the performance of the wireless system and theachievement of an acceptable SIR and SNR.

Consider frequency spectrum 100 with the presentence of strong ACI.Adjacent to the frequency spectrum 101 of the information signal is thefrequency spectrum of the adjacent channel interference 103. In acontrolled indoor environment, the adjacent channel interference 103 islikely “out-of-band” interference. “Out-of-band” refers to frequenciesthat are not within the frequency band or channel of the desired channelor signal. Hence, the out-of-band filters of the radio receiver may besufficient to remove the out-of band ACI.

However, if the frequency spectrum of adjacent channel interference 103is “in-band” relative to the desired channel associated with thefrequency spectrum 101 of the information signal, then it may be moredifficult for the radio receiver to mitigate a strong ACI signal. Thisdescribes the challenge that IEEE 802.11 systems and other radio systemsneed to address in an out door environment. This situation creates aneed to filter interferers that are located in the desired bandspectrum.

The ability of an RF system to reject interference emanating fromadjacent channels is highly dependent upon the receiver architecture.Adjacent channel rejection (ACR) is a measure of how much ACI a receivermay tolerate and continue to provide acceptable performance. One ofordinary skill in the art may recognize that receiver architectures forIEEE 802.11 WLAN systems may be direct conversion or dual conversion.Further, the dual conversion architecture may be implemented as asuperheterodyne (superhet) architecture. Although superhet architecturesoffer performance advantages, the economics of direct conversionarchitectures has resulted in the majority of the WLAN receiverintegrated circuits (IC) to be implemented with a direct conversionarchitecture.

However, direct conversion receivers have limited filtering capabilitiesand limited dynamic range. Hence, WLAN systems designed with directconversion architecture ICs are limited in their ability to mitigatestrong desired band ACI.

One of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that with the directconversion architecture and in a strong ACR environment, the radio mayobtain an interference signal at the radio's analog to digital converterin the receiver chain that may be 40 db stronger than an acceptablelevel. On reason for this situation is that direct conversionarchitecture may not have the surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter at theintermediate frequency (IF), resulting in an interference signal at theA/D converter in the receiver chain that 40 dB stronger than theacceptable level. Accordingly, the filtering provided by a superhetreceiver architecture reduces ACI to permit an acceptable performancefor WLAN systems. Direct conversion architectures, however, aregenerally not able to provide acceptable performance with strong ACI.

Hence, while direct conversion architectures are acceptable forunlicensed indoor environments, they are generally not acceptable foroutdoor environments. Given the popularity of low cost WLAN ICs withdirect conversion architecture, there is a need to improve these WLANsystems based on direct conversion architectures to permit operation inan outdoor environment with high adjacent channel interferers.

SUMMARY

The present invention offers significant improvements in the performancefor a radio receiver operating in an environment with high adjacentchannel interference. The present invention comprises a high selectivityRF circuit that is coupled between the antenna and the radio receiver,and filters adjacent channel interference in the desired band frequencyspectrum. This type of interference is problematic for IEEE 802.11 radioreceivers that are implemented with popular direct conversion radioreceiver architectures. The present invention may also be utilized inmany types of radio receivers.

The high selectivity RF circuit utilizes superheterodyne technology andcomprises channel select filters, a down-converter, up-converter and aprogrammable local oscillator. The radio signal is down-converted to anintermediate frequency (IF), then filtered by a selected channel selectfilter, then up-converted back to the carrier frequency of the radiosignal. The programmable local oscillator provides a local oscillatorsignal to the up-converter and the down-converter that permitsdown-converting the radio signal to an intermediate frequency andsubsequently up-converting the signal back to the carrier frequency. Theprogrammable local oscillator receives a control signal coupled from theradio receiver that determines the local oscillator signal, and in turnthe IF frequency.

The high selectivity RF circuit comprises selectable channel selectfilters. The is channel select filter is selected by the radio receiverbased on the channel bandwidth and frequency requirements for thecommunication. For IEEE 802.11n systems, the channel bandwidth may be 5,10, 20, or 40 MHz. The center frequency of the selectable channel filteris the intermediate frequency. The frequency band may be located at 2.4GHz or 5 GHz. Typically, the selectable channel filter is a SAW filter.The input and output of the high selectivity RF circuit has anout-of-band filter to remove interferers in the out-of-band spectrum.

Hence, the high selectivity RF circuit filters the one or more desiredband interferer signals that are adjacent to the desired channel band ofthe radio signal and presents a “clean” signal to the input of the radioreceiver. The “clean” signal has substantially the same carrierfrequency as the original radio signal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasisinstead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the presentinvention. In the figures, like reference numerals designatecorresponding parts throughout the different views.

FIG. 1 illustrates a radio frequency band with adjacent channelinterference.

FIG. 2 is a table of the channel assignments for the 2.4 GHz, IEEE802.11 spectrum per regulatory domain.

FIG. 3A illustrates a high selectivity RF circuit in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3B illustrates a high selectivity RF circuit in accordance withanother embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates IEEE 802.11 high selectivity RF circuit in accordancewith an implementation of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a table of carrier frequencies and programmable localoscillator frequencies for channel assignments supporting a 374 MHzintermediate frequency.

FIG. 6 illustrates a frequency spectrum diagram with a radio channel andan adjacent channel desired band strong interferer.

FIG. 7 illustrates a frequency spectrum diagram where the carrierchannel, comprising a spectrum for the information signal and anadjacent channel interferer signal that has been down-converted to anintermediate frequency in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a frequency spectrum diagram where the carrierchannel, comprising a spectrum for the information signal that has beenup-converted to the original carrier frequency in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates the equivalent information as in FIG. 7 with theaddition of pass band tuning in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 10 illustrates the equivalent information as in FIG. 8, with theillustrated benefits of pass band tuning in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates a method for improving the performance of a radioreceiver with a high selectivity RF circuit in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates the method of up-converting and down-converting inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 illustrates the method of selecting a channel select filter inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 illustrates the method of selecting a desired band in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Although described in the context of an IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi microwavesystem, the systems disclosed herein may be generally applied to anyradio receiver.

DEFINITIONS

Read this application with the following terms and phrases in their mostgeneral form. The general meaning of each of these terms or phrases isillustrative, not in any way limiting.

Desired band—The frequency band or spectrum where the specified serviceis permitted to operate. For example, for IEEE 802.11b systems, the“desired band” spectrum is the spectrum encompassing channels permittedby the IEEE 802.11b radio standard. For the U.S. this spectrum includesthe 11 channels located within the band 2412 MHz to 2462 MHz (See FIG.2). IEEE 802.11 system may also operate in other bands such as 5.0 GHzfrequency band. The desired band spectrum is also referred to as thein-band spectrum. A filter that filters the desired band spectrum isreferred to as a “band select filter”. “Frequency band” or “frequencyspectrum” may be used interchangeable, and these terms also have thesame meaning as the term “band” or “spectrum”.

Out-of-band spectrum—The frequency band or spectrum outside of thedesired band spectrum. For IEEE 802.11b systems operating in the 2.4 GHzband, the “out-of-band” spectrum encompasses frequencies outside of the2.4 GHz frequency range. A typical out-of-band filter, filtersfrequencies outside the frequency band of 2400 MHz and 2484 MHz.

Desired channel—The frequency band or spectrum within the desired bandspectrum where a specific channel may operate. For IEEE 802.11n systems,the desired channel bandwidth may be 5, 10, 20, or 40 MHz. A filter thatselects the desired channel bandwidth is referred to as a “channelselect filter”. For IEEE 802.11b systems operating in the 2.4 GHz band,the channel assignments are within the 2412 MHz to 2462 MHz frequencyrange and the channel bandwidth is 5 MHz. The specific channelassignments for IEEE 802.11b in the 2.4 GHz band are included in FIG. 5.

Radio signal—The radio frequency signal received by the antenna of aradio receiver. The radio signal comprises the information signal andthe interferer signals.

RF signal—A signal operating at radio frequencies. An RF signal may bethe radio signal or may be a signal located in the high selectivity RFcircuit.

Information Signal—The portion of the RF signal that comprises thedesired signal or information to be received.

Interferer signals—The portion of an RF signal that does not compriseany components of the information signal. The interferer signals may bedesired band (in-band) or out-of-band. Desired band interferer signalsmay be located within a desired channel band, or may be located adjacentto a desired channel band. A strong interferer signal has a signalstrength that is greater than the information signal, and a lesserinterferer has a signal strength that is less than the informationsignal.

IEEE 802.11—Refers to the following standards, IEEE 802.11n (2.4 GHz and5 GHz bands), IEEE 802.11b (2.4 GHz band), IEEE 802.11g (2.4 GHz band),and IEEE 802.11a (5 GHz band). There is also a public safety bandavailable in the U.S. operating with a 4.9 GHz band. Refer toappropriate IEEE standard for further details. For example, IEEE Std802.11-2007.

Superhet Receivers

As described in the Background of the Invention, a superheterodyne orsuperhet architecture in the radio receiver may provide superiorperformance, especially to address adjacent channel interference (ACI).Basically, heterodyne means to mix two frequencies together to produce abeat frequency, or the difference between the two frequencies. Amplitudemodulation is an example of a heterodyne process where the informationsignal is mixed with the carrier to produce side bands. The side-bandsoccur at precisely the sum and difference frequencies (beat frequencies)of the carrier and the information signal. Normally the beat frequencyassociated with the lower side band is utilized in the radio system. Thecenter frequency of the lower side-band is the intermediate frequency(IF).

When the radio system utilizes the lower side-band, a superheterodyneprocess is implemented. That is, the term superheterodyne may refer tocreating a beat frequency that is lower that the original signal. Hence,superheterodyning mixes another frequency with the carrier frequency ofthe information signal so as to reduce the signal frequency prior toprocessing.

As an example, for IEEE 802.11b systems, the received carrierfrequencies include channels in the frequency band from 2412 MHz to 2462MHz. (See FIG. 2). Hence, a received signal with a carrier of 2412 MHzmay be mixed with a synthesized reference clock of 2038 MHz to generatean IF of 374 MHz. (See FIG. 5).

One advantage of superheterodyning is an improvement in signal isolationby arithmetic selectivity, i.e. increasing the fractional bandwidth.This is the bandwidth of a device divided by its center frequency. Forexample, a device that has a bandwidth of 2 MHz with center frequency 10MHz may have a fractional bandwidth of 2/10, or 20%.

The ability to isolate signals, or reject unwanted ones, is a functionof the receiver bandwidth. For example and without limitation, theband-pass filter in the tuner is what isolates the desired signal fromthe adjacent ones. In reality, there are frequently sources that mayinterfere with the radio signal. The FCC makes frequency assignmentsthat generally prevent this situation. Depending on the application, onemight have a need for very narrow signal isolation. If the performanceof a band-pass filter isn't sufficient to accomplish this, theperformance may be improved by superheterodyning.

Frequently, the receiver bandwidth is some fraction of the carrierfrequency. If the receiver has a fractional bandwidth of 2% and is tunedto a center frequency of 850 kHz, then only signals within the rangefrom 2% above and below 850 kHz may pass. In this case, the range isfrom 833 to 867 kHz.

Arithmetic selectivity takes that fraction and applies it to the reducedfrequency (i.e. the IF). For a fixed IF of 452 kHz, that means signalswhich are superheterodyned to the range of 443 to 461 kHz may pass.Up-converting back up into the carrier band, only carrier frequencies inthe range of 841 to 859 kHz may pass. Recall that the local oscillatoris set to reduce the 850 kHz to 452 kHz (i.e. needs to be set at 398kHz). Thus, the 850 kHz is superheterodyned to 452 kHz. Any adjacentsignals are also superheterodyned while maintaining the same frequencyrelationship above or below the original signal.

For example, suppose there is an interfering signal at 863 kHz while theradio is tuned to 850 kHz. A conventional 2% fractional bandwidthreceiver may pass 833 to 867 kHz and so the interfering signal alsopasses. The superheterodyne receiver mixes the interfering signal andthe radio signal with 398 kHz to produce the desired signal at 452 kHzand the interference at 465 kHz. At 2% fractional bandwidth, the IFsection may only passes 443 to 461 kHz, and therefore the interferenceis now suppressed. Hence, the superheterodyne receiver is moreselective. The reason is simple: it operates at a smaller frequency, sothe 2% fractional bandwidth actually involves a smaller range. That iswhy it is called arithmetic selectivity. Bandwidths that are expressedas a percentage are smaller when the center frequency is smaller.

In summary, in cases where selectivity is important or the frequency isvery high (like radar) then superheterodyning may greatly improveperformance. Superheterodyne receivers reduce the signal frequency bymixing in a signal from a local oscillator to produce the intermediatefrequency (IF). Superheterodyne receivers have better performancebecause the components may be optimized to work at a intermediatefrequency, and may take advantage of arithmetic selectivity. Theseprinciples are applied to the present invention.

Although the aforementioned technical benefits of superhet receivers areknown to one of ordinary skilled in the art, superhet receiver are moreexpensive than some alternative radio receiver architectures. A directconversion radio receiver, also known as homodyne, synchrodyne, orzero-IF receiver, is a radio receiver design that demodulates incomingsignals by mixing it with a local oscillator signal synchronized infrequency to the carrier of the information signal. The desireddemodulated signal is thus obtained immediately by low-pass filteringthe mixer output.

Because of the economic benefits, direct conversion radio receivers havebecome the standard for many IC radio receivers, including radioreceiver implementing IEEE 802.11. Unfortunately, direct conversionradio receivers usually do not provide robust performance in anenvironment with a strong desired band interferer. As previously noted,IEEE 802.11 radio receiver in outdoor environments are particularvulnerable to strong desired band interferer.

High Selectivity RF Circuit

A method of improving the performance of a radio receiver comprises“cleaning-up” the desired band spectrum and presenting the resultingsignal to the radio receiver. Such a method may be implemented byutilizing the principle of superheterodyning in a high selectivity RFcircuit. In the high selectivity RF circuit the RF signal isdown-converted to IF and “cleaned up”, i.e. filtered to removeinterferers outside of the desired (i.e. selected) channel. Then, the RFsignal is up-converted back to a carrier frequency that is substantiallythe same as the radio signal carrier frequency and the up-converted RFsignal is coupled to the input of the radio receiver. Hence the radioreceiver receives an information signal that may not include stronginterferers and other undesired signals.

The high selectivity RF circuit comprises channel select filters thathave values equal to the desired channel bandwidth. The radio has apriori knowledge of the desired frequency and bandwidth of operation andprovides control signal information on these elements to the highselectivity RF circuit. Hence, the radio receiver control signalsspecify the desired band and channel, in order to determine the IFfrequency, and the bandwidth, in order to select the appropriate channelselect filter.

FIG. 3A illustrates an embodiment of the present invention of a radiosystem 300 using a high selectivity RF circuit 325. The high selectivityRF circuit 325 comprises the elements illustrated on FIG. 3A, excludingantenna 301 and radio receiver 310. A specific implementation of thisembodiment for IEEE 802.11 is illustrated in FIG. 4. Relative to FIG.3A, radio signal 311 is a radio signal that is received on antenna 301.Radio signal 311 comprises the information signal, desired bandinterferer signals and out-of-band interferer signals. The informationsignal is centered at the carrier frequency. Radio signal 311 is thencoupled to an out-of-band filter 303 that removes undesired signals thatare in the out-of-band spectrum and generates radio signal 312. FIG. 6illustrates frequency spectrum 600, the frequency spectrum of radiosignal 312. As shown, the dotted line spectrum 603 represents thedesired band spectrum created by out-of-band filter 303. Undesirablesignals outside this band have been removed and are no long a concernfor the signal processing.

Within the desired band spectrum is the spectrum for the permittedcarrier channels. For example, on FIG. 6, there are 11 radio or carrierchannels indicated, representing the 11 channels in the IEEE 802.11bstandard. The information signal is illustrated on FIG. 6 by spectrum601 with the center frequency f.sub.c of radio channel 3 to andbandwidth BW. At this point in the circuit, the center frequency of theinformation signal is also referred to as the carrier frequency. Alsowithin the desired band spectrum is a strong interferer 602 and lesserinterferers 604.

Returning to FIG. 3A, radio signal 312 is coupled to a mixer 304. Mixer304 down-converts the radio signal 312 and is also described asdown-converter mixer 304. Similarly, mixer 308 is also described asup-converter mixer 308. The local oscillator for mixer 304 is providedby programmable local oscillator 302 that couples local oscillatorsignal 317 to mixer 304 and mixer 308. The radio receiver 310 sends tothe programmable local oscillator 302 on control signal 319 informationspecifying the frequency of the carrier channel. Control signal 319 maybe referred to as the first control signal.

Programmable local oscillator 302 is a common synthesized reference thatgenerates local oscillator signal 317 which is coupled to the twofrequency conversion stages. Since the up-converter mixer 308 and thedown-converter mixer 304 receive the same mixing signal, there areeffectively no net changes in the conversion relative to the carrierfrequency. The local oscillator signal 317 mixes with a radio signal 312to generate a down-converted signal and also mixes with filtered signal314 to generate an up-converted signal.

Local oscillator signal 317 may be synthesized and agile, and may be asinusoidal signal. Programmable local oscillator 302 may be implementedwith a phase locked loop with programmable dividers, or a direct digitalsynthesis (DDS) circuit, or other suitable circuit.

The output from mixer 304 is down-converted signal 313. Down-convertedsignal 313 is centered at the intermediate frequency IF and isrepresented by spectrum 701 on FIG. 7. Therefore, FIG. 7 illustrates thefrequency spectrum 700, including down-converted signal 313 and filteredsignal 314 in the IF region of the spectrum. Frequency spectrum 700comprises the spectrum 701 and strong interferer 702 and lesserinterferers 704. These signals have been down-converted by mixer 304.The IF frequency is selected in order to optimize the performance ofradio receiver 310 while to minimize the cost of the high selectivity RFcircuit. This objective is achieved by selecting a low frequency aspossible in order to minimize the circuit cost. Conversely, a higherfrequency is desirable in order to efficiently remove intermoduationproducts generated in the conversion process and other spurious desiredband interferers from the spectrum.

The down-converted signal 313 is coupled to a switch 305 that iscontrolled by the radio receiver 310. The radio receiver 310 sendsinformation on control signal 318 to switch 305 and switch 307containing the specification for the channel bandwidth for thesubsequent communication. Control signal 318 may be referred to as asecond control signal. Based on the bandwidth information provided incontrol signal 318, switch 305 and switch 307 select a channel selectfilter of channel select filters 306 that corresponds to the channelbandwidth of the desired channel. The down-converted signal 313subsequently is coupled through the appropriate channel select filter.Multiple channel select filters are provided in channel select filters306 in order to select the filter that best matches the channelbandwidth and provides the highest performance.

With a superhet receiver, the selected channel filter may be SAW filterssince SAW filters provide excellent performance. One characteristic ofSAW filters is very sharp skirts at the high frequency and low frequencyof the spectrum. The spectrum 703 of the SAW filter is illustrated inFIG. 7. As shown, the bottom of the spectrum skirts (see 703) of the SAWfilter has a greater bandwidth than at the top of the filter. Thebandwidth of SAW filter is BW_(SAW) and bandwidth BW_(SAW) is at leastas wide as the bandwidth BW of frequency spectrum 710 for theinformation signal. Note on FIG. 7 that the center frequency f_(c) forthe SAW filter represented by spectrum 703 and the spectrum 701 thatrepresents the information signal, are substantially the same value asthe IF frequency.

After being filtered by SAW filter, the frequency spectrum 700 may onlycomprise spectrum 701, representing the information signal, plus anylesser interferers 704 that are located within the skirts of the SAWfilter. The strong interferer 702 and lesser interferers 704 that areoutside of the SAW filter skirts have been effectively to filtered fromthe desired band spectrum. This filtered signal is located on FIG. 3A asfiltered signal 314. Hence, channel select filters 306 filters the oneor more desired band interferer signals that are adjacent to a desiredchannel and generates a filtered radio signal. That is, the desired bandinterferer signals that are outside of the selected channel bandwidthBW_(SAW) are filtered.

In order to interface with the radio receiver, filtered signal 314 isup-converted by mixer 308. Mixer 308 “mixes” filtered signal 314 withlocal oscillator signal 317 from the programmable local oscillator 302and generates up-converted RF signal 315, which is centered at thecarrier frequency. Mixer 308 is also described as an up-converter. Notethat local oscillator signal 317 is also coupled to mixer 304. Thus,up-converted RF signal 315 has substantially the same carrier frequencyas radio signal 311.

Up-converted RF signal 315 is now coupled to a second out-of-band filter309. The first out-of-band filter 303 and second out-of-band filter 309provides substantially the same filtering. The principle purpose of thesecond out-of-band filter 309 is to remove out-of-band mixing productsand local oscillator signals that may have been generated in theup-converting and down-converting processes. The output of theout-of-band filter 309 is signal 316 which is coupled to the input ofthe radio receiver.

The spectrum of signal 316 is illustrated in frequency spectrum 800 inFIG. 8. As shown, the frequency spectrum is very “clean”. That is, thestrong desired band interferer has been filtered out and most of thelesser interferers have been removed. The frequency spectrum 800 mayonly contains the information signal represented by frequency spectrum801 and some lesser interferers 804. As shown, the information signal iscentered on the radio channel 3 and has a bandwidth BW. Accordingly,this “clean” spectrum may be processed very efficiency by a directconversion radio receiver.

In another embodiment, radio system 350 of the high selectivity RFcircuit 375 is illustrated in FIG. 3B. In this radio system 350, theout-of band filtering is provided by band select filters 353 and 359.Band select filters 353 and 359 comprise to more than one filter andpermits the high selectivity RF circuit 375 to select the desired band.As illustrated in FIG. 3B, control signal 360 selects the value of theband select filter in band select filters 353 and band select filters359. For example, the band select filters 353 and 359 may comprisefilters for the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Control signal 360 may bereferred to as a third control signal. Hence, the is first band selectfilters 353 and the second band select filters 359 receive a thirdcontrol signal 360 from the radio receiver 310, and the third controlsignal 360 selects the desired band.

The selected filter in band select filters 353 may be referred to as afirst out-of-band filter. The selected filter in band select filters 359may be referred to as a second out-of-band filter. The first band selectfilters 353 and second band select filters 359 provides substantiallythe same filtering.

Control signal 360 is also coupled to programmable local oscillatorw/band select 352. Programmable local oscillator w/band select 352 hasthe functionality to generate the local oscillator signal 317, in orderto generate the appropriate IF.

As in radio system 300, the radio receiver 310 sends a message oncontrol signal 318 to switch 305 and switch 307 containing thespecification for the channel bandwidth for the subsequentcommunication. Based on this message, switch 305 and switch 307 selectthe channel select filter that corresponds to the channel bandwidth.Other elements of radio system 350 operate in a similar manner as inradio system 300.

An implementation of the embodiment of FIG. 3A is illustrated in FIG. 4with circuit 400. This circuit supports an IEEE 802.11 WLAN system.FIGS. 3A, 3B and FIG. 4 are labeled such that the last two digits of theelement numbers represent the equivalent functions. For example, antenna301 on FIG. 3A is equivalent to antenna 401 on FIG. 4.

The received radio signal is has a spectrum as illustrated in FIG. 6where the information signal is radio channel 3 with a carrier frequencyof 2422 MHz and is represented by spectrum 601. Also within the spectrumis a strong interferer 602 at approximately 2455 MHz, and several lesserinterferers 604 in the desired band. In to the FIG. 4 implementation, aVR switch 421 has been incorporated to provide the appropriatemultiplexing of the receiver and transmit signals. On the receiver side,a low noise amplifier LNA 423 has been added to amplify the signal 411prior to the signal 411 being input to the out-of-band filter 403. Forexample, for WLAN operating in the 2.4 GHz spectrum, the out of bandfilter may filter signals outside of the frequency band of approximately2400 MHz to 2484 MHz.

The filtered signal 412 is subsequently down-converted by mixer 404 withlocal oscillator signal 417 from the programmable local oscillator 402.The radio receiver 410 provides to the programmable local oscillator 402the carrier channel frequency information on control signal 419. FIG. 5provides a table of the information signal's carrier frequency andcorresponding frequencies mixed from the programmable local oscillator402 for the 2.4 GHz, IEEE 802.11 frequency band. Note that theprogrammable local oscillator 402 provides local oscillator signal 417that mixes with the filtered signal 412 to generate an IF of 374 MHz.Hence, if the signal received at antenna 401 (and signals 411 and 412)has a carrier frequency of 2422 GHz, then the programmable localoscillator 402 provides a local oscillator signal 417 with a frequencyof 2048 MHz.

The IF is selected in order to provide the optimal benefits consideringthe lower circuit cost of the high selectivity RF circuit by utilizing alow IF and the higher performance of the radio receiver by using ahigher IF in order to readily filter out “junk” signals, for exampleintermodulation signal products.

The down-converted IF signal 413 is coupled to switch 405, which iscontrolled by the radio receiver 410. The radio receiver 410 providesthe information on control signal 418 relative to the channel bandwidthof the subsequent communication. Accordingly, the signal 413 is switchedto the appropriate channel select SAW filter, 406 a, 406 b or 406 c. ForIEEE 802.11n, the bandwidths of these filters are a combination of 5,10, 20 and 40 MHz, and have a center frequency that is the same value asthe IF. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 7 where the center frequencyf_(c) is the IF, i.e. 374 MHz, and the BW_(SAW) is 5 MHz, and thebandwidth BW of spectrum 701, representing the information signal isless than the 5 MHz to bandwidth.

Signal 414 is filtered by the channel select filter to remove interferersignals in the desired band. Subsequently, signal 414 is coupled tomixer 408 by switch 407. Utilizing the same value for local oscillatorsignal 417 from the programmable local oscillator 402, the signal 414 isup-converted to the original carrier frequency (2422 MHz) to generatesignal 415. Following an out-of-band filter 409, the resulting signal416 is a “clean” signal with a carrier frequency of 2422 MHz. Thisspectrum is illustrated in FIG. 8 where radio channel 3 is equal to 2422MHz. Signal 416 is then coupled to the input of radio receiver 410. Ifradio receiver 410 is a direct conversion receiver, the receiver mayefficiently process signal 416 since desired band adjacent interferershave been removed.

FIG. 4 also illustrated the transmit path of the radio. The IEEE 802.11transmitter 425 is coupled to an out-of-band filter 420 that is coupledto a power amplifier PA 422. The power boosted signal is coupled to aninput of the T/R switch 421, which in turn is coupled to the antenna401.

Pass Band Tuning

By applying the principles of pass band tuning, the high selectivity RFcircuit performance may be further improved. Consider the situationillustrated in FIG. 9 with frequency spectrum 900, wherein there arelesser interferers 704 and an additional interferer 904 that hasslightly stronger signal power than lesser interferers 704. Additionalinterferer 904 has a signal power of approximately −77 dBm and lesserinterferers 704 have signal power of approximately −92 dBm. With passband tuning, the IF is shifted to a slightly higher or lower frequencyin order to filter a desired band interferer signal. For example,referring to FIG. 9, frequency spectrum 900 illustrates that if the IFis shifted to a slightly lower frequency, then additional interferer 904may be partially filtered from the desired band. As shown in FIG. 9, theIF is shifted from f_(c) to f_(shift) resulting in spectrum 903 to beshifted to a lower frequency than the spectrum 701 of the informationsignal. In this situation, additional interferer 904 is filtered suchthat its signal power is reduced from approximately −77 dBm toapproximately −92 dBm. This result is illustrated in spectrum 1000 onFIG. 10 via additional interferer 1004. Hence, the desired channelspectrum has less distortion.

One method of implementing pass band tuning is to have the radioreceiver 310 determine if there are lesser interferers 704 or anadditional interferer 904 in the desired band in close proximity of theskirts of the selected channel filter of channel select filters 306, ateither a higher frequency or lower frequency. If this condition isdetermined to exist, then the radio receiver 310 sends information onthe control signal 319 that instructs the programmable local oscillator302 to generate a control signal that is either slightly higher orslightly lower than the previously specified IF frequency. The valuethat the IF may shift varies depending on the specific design. As oneexample, pass band tuning may shift the IF from 5% to 20% of the IFfrequency.

Pass band tuning is a compromise inasmuch as the shifted IF may push asignal up against the edge of the “real” filter. Likely the “real”filter has a gradual roll-off. In this case, one may find that while thedesired signal suffers some distortion due to additional attenuationfrom the IF filter at the edge of the filter, there remains more benefitfrom the additional rejection of a stronger interferer.

High Selectivity RF Circuit Method

Via the high selectivity RF circuit, a method may be implemented toimprove the performance of a radio receiver. This method for improvingthe performance of a radio receiver is illustrated in FIGS. 11, 12, 13,and 14, with flow charts 1100, 1200, 1300, and 1400, respectively. FIG.11 with flow chart 1100 describes the steps of the method comprisingsteps 1101 to 1106. This method begins with the steps of receiving aradio signal, via the antenna 301, wherein the radio signal comprises acarrier frequency, an information signal, as represented by spectrum 601and one or more desired band interferer signals such as stronginterferer 602 and lesser interferers 604, as illustrated in FIG. 6;down-converting, via mixer 304, the radio signal to an intermediatefrequency IF, via switch 305 and switch 307 selecting a channel selectfilter from a plurality of channel select filters 306; filtering one ormore desired band interferer signals that are adjacent to a desiredchannel with the selected channel select filter and generating afiltered radio signal, as illustrated on FIG. 7; up-converting thefiltered radio signal, via mixer 308, to an up-converted RF signal, asillustrated in FIG. 8; and coupling the up-converted RF signal to aninput of the radio receiver 310.

The method for up-converting and down-converting is further described inflowchart 1200 and steps 1201 to 1207 and may comprise the steps ofcoupling a first control signal 319 generated in the radio receiver 310to a programmable local oscillator 302, the first control signal 319comprises information on the carrier frequency; and generating a localoscillator signal 317 from the programmable local oscillator 302 andcoupling the local oscillator signal 317 to the down-converter mixer 304and to the up-converter mixer 308.

The method may further comprises the steps of: down-converting, viamixer 304, the radio signal by mixing the radio signal 312 and the localoscillator signal 317 and generating a down-converted signal 313, asillustrated in FIG. 7; and up-converting, via mixer 308, by mixing thefiltered signal 314, as filtered by channel select filters 306, and thelocal oscillator signal 317 and generating the up-converted RF signal315, as illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 8, wherein the radio signal receivedby antenna 301 and the up-converted RF signal 315 have substantially thesame carrier frequency. The down-converted signal operates at theintermediate frequency.

The method for selecting a channel select filter is further described inflowchart 1300 and steps 1301 and 1302 and comprises the steps ofselecting the channel select filter, from channel select filters 306,based on a second control signal 318 from the radio receiver 310,wherein the second control signal 318 comprises information on bandwidthof the desired channel.

Additionally, the channel select filters 306 may be SAW filters, and forIEEE 802.11, the channel select filters may comprise filters that havebandwidths whose values are substantially equal to 5, 10, 20, and 40 MHzand have a center frequency that is substantially equal to theintermediate frequency of the high selectivity RF circuit. (Not shown inflowcharts.)

The method may further comprise the step of tuning the selectablechannel filter with pass band tuning. (Not shown in flowcharts.)

The method further comprises the steps of: filtering the radio signal311 with a first out-of-band filter 303; and filtering the up-convertedRF signal 315 with a second out-of-band filter 309, wherein the firstout-of-band filter 303 and second out-of-band filter 309 providesubstantially the same filter. (Not shown in flowcharts.)

The method for selecting the desired band (i.e. frequency band) isillustrated in FIG. 14 with steps 1401 to 1403. The frequency band forthe first out-of-band filter 303 and second out-of-band filter 309 maybe selectable by a third control signal 360 generated by the radioreceiver, as illustrated in FIG. 3B with band select filters 353 and359. The third control signal 360 is also utilized to generate the localoscillator signal 317 for the desired band by the programmable localoscillator w/band select 352.

High Selectivity RF Circuit System

A system for improving the performance of a radio receiver comprises anantenna 301 that receives a radio signal; a high selectivity RF circuit375 that comprises a down-converter mixer 304, channel select filters306, and an up-converter mixer 308; and a radio receiver 310, whereinthe radio receiver 310 provides control signals that permits theselection of a channel select filter and permits generation of a localoscillator signal 317, wherein the local oscillator signal 317 mixeswith the radio signal 312, via mixer 304 to generate an intermediatefrequency, and wherein the intermediate frequency is the centerfrequency of the selected channel of channel select filters 306, whereina down-converted signal 313 is filtered by the selected channel selectfilter to generate a filtered signal 314, then the filtered signal 314is up-converted, via mixer 308 to a up-converted RF signal 315 that hasa carrier frequency that is substantially the same as the radio signal311, wherein the up-converted RF signal 315 is coupled to an input ofthe radio receiver 310.

While various embodiments of the invention have been described, it willbe apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many moreembodiments and implementations are possible that are within the scopeof this invention. For example, any combination of any of the systems ormethods described in this disclosure is possible. Further, theseconcepts may apply to any radio system.

The above illustration provides many different embodiments orembodiments for implementing different features of the invention.Specific embodiments of components and processes are described to helpclarify the invention. These are, of course, merely embodiments and arenot intended to limit the invention from that described in the claims.

Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodiedin one or more specific examples, it is nevertheless not intended to belimited to the details shown, since various modifications and structuralchanges may be made therein without departing from the spirit of theinvention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims be construedbroadly and in a manner consistent with the scope of the invention, asset forth in the following claims.

1. A device comprising: a down-converter operative to receive a first RFsignal and generates a second RF signal; one or more channel selectswitches coupled to a plurality of filters, said switches operative todirect the second RF signal to at least one of said filters in responseto a control signal, said control signal indicative of an interferencesignal, and an up-converter, coupled to the channel select switches andoperative to generate a third RF signal.
 2. The device of claim 1wherein the third RF signal and the control signal are coupled to aradio receiver, said receiver determining the interference signal. 3.The device of claim 1 further comprising: a first out-of-band filtercoupled to the input of the down convertor, and a second out-of-bandfilter coupled to the output of the up-convertor.
 4. The device of claim1 further including: a programmable oscillator that receives a firstcontrol signal coupled from a radio receiver and generates a localoscillator signal that is coupled to the down converter and theup-converter.
 5. The device of claim 1 wherein the control signalselects for a filter that is skewed from the center frequency of thesecond RF frequency.
 6. The device of claim 1 wherein the control signalcomprises bandwidth information of a desired channel.
 7. The device ofclaim 1 wherein the filters are SAW filters.
 8. The device of claim 1wherein the filters comprise filters that have bandwidths whose valuesare substantially equal to 5, 10, 20, and 40 MHz and have a centerfrequency that is substantially equal to the second RF signal.
 9. Amethod comprising: receiving a radio signal, wherein the radio signalcomprises at least a carrier frequency; down-converting the radio signalto an intermediate frequency signal; determining the presence of aninterfering signal; selecting a filter in response to said determining;directing the intermediate frequency signal to the filter, andup-converting the intermediate frequency signal.
 10. The method of claim9 further comprising: filtering the input of a down convertor, andfiltering the output of a up-convertor.
 11. The method of claim 9further including: programming an oscillator that, receives a firstcontrol signal coupled from a radio receiver; generating an oscillatorsignal, and coupling the oscillator signal to a down converter and anup-converter.
 12. The method of claim 9 wherein the filter is selectedto skewed from the center frequency of the second RF frequency.
 13. Themethod of claim 9 further including: filtering the intermediatefrequency signal to a desired bandwidth.
 14. The method of claim 9wherein the filtering is done with SAW filters.
 15. The method of claim9 wherein the filtering include use of filters that have bandwidthswhose values are substantially equal to 5, 10, 20, and 40 MHz.
 16. Amethod comprising: receiving a radiated signal, wherein the radio signalcomprises at least a carrier frequency; down-converting the radio signalto an intermediate frequency signal; determining the presence of aninterfering signal; selecting a filter in response to said determining;directing the intermediate frequency signal to the filter; up-convertingthe intermediate frequency signal, and coupling the up-converted signalto a radio receiver, wherein the radio receiver detects the presence ofthe interfering signal.
 17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:filtering the input of a down convertor, and filtering the output of aup-convertor.
 18. The method of claim 16 wherein the filter has a centerfrequency different from the intermediate frequency.
 19. The method ofclaim 16 wherein the filtering is done with SAW filters.